Broken symbolic links

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Dear sirs:

I just want to report that with the latest Avast free antivirus update [program version 25.7.10308g (build 25.7.10308.945), virus definition 250815-6 and UI Version 1.0.844], after troubleshooting my windows 10 system, I found more than 100 symbolick links that had null, broken or obsolete links (or some targets were array types) located in folders C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\1033\avast.local.crt\ and C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\defs\25081504\avast.local.crt\. I could’t fix them but you could do it on the next update.

Cordially, F. Gomez Aug-15/25

PS: I mailed this note to the community because I couldn’t find a direct mail to the Avast Technical Team

2

Who (what tool) reported that the links were invalid? Can you post an example of the exact message?

If Avast was working correctly, I’m wondering if the links were actually valid and the error was a false positive?

1 Like
3

Dear Igor0:

I understand your concern, I’m just a curious chemical engineer that likes to explore the capabilities of my PC. Lately, I am working with PowerShell, the Windows Registry and AI to try to better understand how the system works. I replied to your mail with the text version of the script I prepared to find the broken and obsolete symbolic links to null or undefined targets in the C:\ drive. Its output prompted me to contact Avast. If you are interested in running the script, all you have to do is change the file extension from .TXT to .PS1, open PowerShell as administrator, change the working folder to the location where you want the output (a .CSV file) to be saved, and load and run the .PS1 file. Then open the .CSV file with your favorite spreadsheet and see the results by yourself. If you happen to have a different version of the Free Avast Antivirus the results may differ, but the version that I worked with, showed more than 100 broken and or null symbolic links. My guess is that, since the antivirus looks working fine, those bad symbolic links belong to previous versions that were not removed with the updates, and newer links allow the program to run fine. My suggestion to Avast with my mail was intended to improve the cleanup after installing new updates.

I hope this information helps you clear your doubts. I will be interested to know what results you get.

Example: A portion of the output:

Path LinkType TargetType Target IsObsolete IsBroken
C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\1033\avast.local.crt\api-ms-win-core-console-l1-1-0.dll SymbolicLink System.String TRUE TRUE
undefined ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\1033\avast.local.crt\api-ms-win-core-console-l1-2-0.dll SymbolicLink System.String TRUE TRUE
undefined ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\1033\avast.local.crt\api-ms-win-core-datetime-l1-1-0.dll SymbolicLink System.String TRUE TRUE
undefined ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

…

…

Cordially,

F. Gomez

4

After reviewing my mails, I found that the script I sent to your mail was undeliverable. If you are stil interested, I can send it to a mail that you specify. Cordially, F. Gomez, Aug-19-25